Academics, Innovation, Evaluation, and Technology Committee - Regular Meeting

All right, good afternoon and welcome to the Academics Innovation Evaluation and Technology Committee meeting for July 15th, 2026. Board member Dr. Bendros-Mindigal is caught up in an appointment and asked me to take charge as alternate. Before we get started, I'd like to state the committee membership. Dr. Dorothy Bendros-Mindigal is committee chair. Ms. Mary Blanco, myself as your vice chair, Robert Alonzo member, alternate members, I have Mr. Danny Espino and Luisa Santos, and the next official members, Chair Rojas and Vice Chair Colucci. Our first order of today's business is to approve th

All in favor? Aye. All right, our next order of business will be to move the C items to the floor. Thank you. C1, Ms. Diaz, this is your item.

Yes, very quickly. Thank you so much for bringing this forth. Extremely important. Again, because of the mental health related issues that many of our students are encountering. Very important to me is that children that need the assistance get the help that they need in an expeditious manner. can, through the chair, can you let us know if somebody is in crisis, if something is happening, what is the process that is being followed, and is this being disseminated to our administrators at our school sites, through the chair?

Thank you, so through the chair, how many days is it that they have? After they go into.

Through the Chair, thank you. This is disseminated to our principals. They know the resources that they have readily available. And if a family cannot afford certain services, because mental health is very expensive. If anybody goes into private, you know, going to get a psychiatrist, psychologist, counselor, whatever you want to call them, they are expensive. It is not something that everybody can afford. I know we have families that... encounter situations with their children and they're simply struggling i know that we have resources available but are those resources available on the spot i

So through the chair, one last question. I'd like to find out, does a family have to make a certain income to be able to qualify or you can be making whatever and still qualify to get the services?

All right. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Any other questions or comments? I did have a question, and I had an opportunity during briefing yesterday with Dr. Diaz. So I was looking at the last page, which is the one with the actual expenditures, and I couldn't help but notice these contracted agencies that we're talking about, I think you just mentioned there's 14 of them, 2.3 million of the mental health allocation is allotting to go to that. but I was asking her for an update, and I'm so glad that you're here, Ms. Stewart. You can maybe give me an update, and I think it would be beneficial, because you and I spoke about i

Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. So then again, maybe you don't have this information handy right now. I'm just kind of curious, how much were you able to save in efficiencies? And when we're looking at the current year's allocation with the $2.3 million, what had been allocated in the past in that category? And I know this could change, right, because we don't know exactly. This is just a plan. But just wondering what we had allocated in previous years, how much did you find in efficiencies and were you able to kind of get off the books, right, for this year?

All right. That gives me a ballpark. Thank you. Any additional questions? No?

Comments? Chair Rojas? Just a very brief comment. Very comprehensive. Thank you for bringing this forth. So important, reading. What's more important than that? Every subject area requires, even math, where a lot of people say, well, math is computational. No, it's not. and you have the word problem, so on and so forth. So it's extremely important that we have the plan, very happy to see that you all included in here the contact information because a lot of people don't know who is spearheading specific areas. So the fact that you have main reading contact Vanessa de la Pena and then you have

Thank you so much. Through the chair, also, I'm happy to see that for VPK, you have very clear and measurable student literacy achievement goals. Can you just elaborate on that? Because those grades are critically important for the foundation. Sure. Through the chair. So in the chart there,

Thank you. Very comprehensive plan. Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Vice Chair Colucci, you have some comments? Thank you, and I want to thank the team for this. I just want to ask and just make sure, and I know we discussed it in the briefing, that the phonics materials will be, they've been budgeted for, and I just want to make sure that as we start the school year that all materials will be in the classrooms, ready to be handed out the first day of school to students. So there's no delay in instruction. So through the chair.

Perfect, thank you. And I'm glad to see that there will be, through the chair, a focus on the item that we approved as a board unanimously to, raise the number of four and five proficiency levels and move our students beyond to the next level. And while we're discussing this, I just want to commend the district and the teachers and the team for all of their hard work in making us another district again. for the seventh time. So that's commendable. It's something to be proud of. And the work has to keep continue because the state's going to keep raising the the bar for us. So we have to make su

No, okay. Can I get a motion of the sea items to the board meeting? Second. All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Motion to bring the H items to the floor. Move it. All in favor? Aye. Okay. H2, Board Chair Rojas, this is your item.

Yes. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And this item is the feasibility of expanding the concept of establishing K-12 school campuses in Miami-Dade County public schools. And basically, this item is directing the superintendent of schools to explore the feasibility of establishing a K-12 campus or campuses in Miami-Dade County and to provide a report to the board at the Academics Evaluation and Technology Committee on October 7th of 2026. The K-12 concept has already actually been successfully implemented in some of our Miami-Dade schools, very limited, but the I-PREP is one example of a K-12.

I see Board Member Alonso, you have some questions?

Thank you so much, Madam Chair, and thank you, Board Chair Rojas, for bringing this item. I think it's always important for us to explore different options, especially as the environment changes around us and parents are looking for their opportunities. This would be an interesting study to bring up because it's one that I've been having a lot of concerns with in my own district. I have two co-location schools coming into my community where we're gonna be putting elementary school students inside of high schools. So this would almost be introducing the same type of co-location of bringing elem

Thank you. Just as a follow-up, I appreciate that. And I completely understand that it's a different scenario where you still have students in a school building that are mixed ages and you have little ones versus older ones. So I just think it's a great analysis that we can use to learn from as we kind of go into this world a little bit in a larger scale with now five schools this coming school year, this data's gonna be very beneficial. So I think it serves a lot of purposes in having it. And look, the more options we have for families, and I would love to have my kid in the same school, righ

Thank you, thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to our Board Chair for bringing this item. I think it's time that we start exploring this. I think we're a little long past due in it. It's something that needs to be looked at, needs to be analyzed. I'm looking forward to seeing the results. I'm in full support of the item. I really think that this is something that builds community. It continues that because schools are communities. People like to have their children in a place. And we lose a lot of our students from the elementary to middle school. We do that and it's a problem for us as a di

Okay, any other comments? No, okay. Okay.

Very briefly, when the children start in kindergarten and the families are happy, more likely than not, they're going to stay with us all the way throughout. And that's why it's so important to start with the little ones all the way up because It's proven. If they are in a school starting at a very young age and they are pleased with the education, with the administration, with the teachers, they're going to stay with us. And we have a lot of other competition. We have homeschooling out there. We have charter schools. We have private schools. We have parochial schools. And we're working arduou

Vice Chair Calucci, you had additional comments? Yes, thank you. And I just want to, this is for your consideration, Madam Chair. I think another option of expanding, too, is the 6 through 12 model. We have already some, but some of our middle schools are very under-enrolled, and perhaps combining 6 through 12, just not looking at K through 12, but expanding the 6 through 12 model, I think might be something, if you want to consider that, adding that in your recommend, but that's totally up to you. I'm good with the item as it is through the chair.

Just a comment on the 6 through 12. I think that was... Board Member Gallin's parting gift to us last month, which is to explore the feasibility of 612. So, I mean, I don't know if these reports are going to come back together or separately, but I'm saying at the same time or not, there'll be separate reports, but I'm saying we'll be getting reports on both.

I did have some additional comments, and I'm in full support of the item, so this in no means is not a sign of support. I absolutely am. And I think I've shared this before. When I was working at a neighboring county and I first heard that Miami-Dade was doing K-8s, I thought it was wonderful, and I think in the beginning it was. And now on the board, some of the things that I'm encountering from the K-8s is that they're... some of the parents are now looking more again to the traditional middle school experience because of the sports and because of the activities and things that can be offere

Yes, I do. Thank you so much, Madam Chair. And first of all, I like, I know that many of us have interns that are here with us today. My intern is sitting right over there from Young Women's Preparatory Academy, Marvette Ocean, can you please stand to be recognized? This is an all-girls school, the only one that we have in the entire district, and exceptional student with a great future ahead of her, and the internship is opening her eyes to so many different arenas that she would not have had an opportunity to do so. If you could allow her to just say a few words I would appreciate that. That

Yeah, if any of the other interns that are here, if you wouldn't mind standing, and you're more than welcome to say a few words or at least introduce yourselves by name and who you're under and the schools you're coming to us from. We'll start right over here.

Are you Ms. Diaz's son? Oh, no wonder you're so brilliant.

I don't think he wanted to acknowledge that. In the back to my left.

Excellent. And I think we just had many join us from board member Santos' office. So just briefly go around as you came in, you know, just your name and what school you're from.

Excellent. It's a pleasure to have you joining us, and really from across, I think, the entire district, right, from every corner. I hope you've been able to learn quite a bit. I hope we've encouraged you to either go into education or maybe even public service. Hopefully we haven't discouraged it. But either way, as a high school counselor, I say it's always great for you to just explore and be exposed to different career paths. that you might appreciate. So I hope you've had a wonderful opportunity this summer.

I just want to take a moment of privilege because Jacob had to leave, but Jacob is once again here. He's an intern in my office. He has to have transportation back home. But it's an honor to have Jacob back again here this year. He's excited to work on board items. He's at Miami Lakes Educational Center, and he just left a few minutes ago so he can have his transportation taken back home. I also want to give a big shout out to district staff for supporting these students. Jacob at first thought he could never have an opportunity to do this, and our ESC department together with our teams here h

Thank you. Did you want to say anything? Okay, all right, yes.

No, no, I'm gonna keep on going with my new business. I just wanted to start with them first, so if I may.

Thank you all. We were happy to recognize you, and we'll continue now with the new business from Chair Rojas.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Effective July 1st of 2026, Florida students in grade three through five are now required to learn how to write in cursive. And they have to show proof that they have been able to master it because sadly there were students that were not able to master cursive writing by the time they got to fifth grade. And so at the last board meeting I did ask a question, the last committee, I'm sorry, referencing this situation. Can someone or you, Ms. Diaz, be able to give us an update? How are we going to implement this Have our principals had any training and given input on the p

So through the chair, via our region meetings with the principals and with the assistant principals, there will be training and expectations that will be given to everyone across the county, not just in one region or in another, that all of us will be doing the same thing with the implementation portion and that they're all going to get the same type of training that they need to have through professional development or however you are all going to do it with them.

Thank you. Before I go to the next part, I believe that Vice Chair Colucci wants to say something, Madam Chair. Sure.

Thank you. And I just want to ask, it's very, when you're teaching handwriting, you need a lot of practice. So as a teacher, I know that the teachers, they need to trace the letters, they need to, so would it be more cost effective to look at getting some sort of program of workbooks for third through fifth grade having teachers run copies and because at the beginning you really do need you know it can't just be copy this from the board you've got to trace you've got to have there's a whole system to teaching cursive it's not just you know yeah it's a whole I know we've kind of lost that you k

Thank you. Did you want to respond to that, or?

The teacher and Vice Chair Colucci needs to make some additional comments.

And just very quickly, something as simple as having the correct paper, maybe we can order a lot of that for the schools, because it makes a big difference. That's all I'm going to say. Thank you.

You just took me back, Vice Chair Colucci, to the wooden things with the wires and the three lines that the teacher would do across the board.

Correct. And then, you know, halfway for the Capitol, all the way to the top for the Capitol, and And even in the primary grades, it makes a very, very big difference. I used to go through that paper very quickly with my students, and it makes a big difference. So thank you.

Actually, Madam Chair, as I continue, before I go to my next topic, when I came from Cuba, I was six years old, and I started school in Cuba. And we wrote cursive. So when I got to the United States, I came in and I was going to second grade at that time. And I had to go to print. And that's why my handwriting is so awful.

Because I went from cursive to print back to cursive.

But I could be a doctor because, you know, you can't read anything doctors write either. But in certain countries, they start teaching you cursive since you are... in the lower grades, not even third grade. So I was an example of that because that's how I came. But anyways, with that said, let me go to my next area that I wanted to address. That's summer 305 through the chair. Ms. Diaz, can you let us know a little bit about how summer 305 is going? The participation, is it steady? Are the kids continuing to go? What kind of progress are we seeing being made throughout the district? And just e

Thank you. So through the chair, two things that I wanted to ask. You said you had about 2,000 students in third grade, and many students in third grade, in order to be promoted, had to pass, if they didn't pass the original assessment, then they had the portfolio. If they did not get it through the portfolio process, I'm sure they're attending now for other opportunities that we give these students to be able to be promoted to fourth grade, do you have a percentage or a number that you could give us as to how many students you have going to the summer program now that are in that particular s

When you have the results through the chair, I'd like to know how many we have that still have not passed the assessment, and then the next steps that are gonna be taken for those children to have yet one more opportunity to try to see if they can proceed to the next grade level. through the chair. Also, I would make a recommendation for next year. I know that we started on the 15th. But we got the information, the board, on the 8th with reference as right before. Maybe you could give us the information sooner next year, sometime maybe in May, so that we are cognizant of what schools are going

Thank you. And through the chair, and I'm sorry, but academics is very important to me. I have another question. One has to deal with the area of, as I assess the results of testing of our last assessment, science was an area that concerns me. It concerned me last year, it concerned me this year, because that was an area that we need to enhance. And so... As we are looking at the science arena, I was wondering, what are we doing? And also, the interdisciplinary approach to instruction, which is something that I might even bring an item on later. But I did it many, many times, and it proved to

Thank you very much. I appreciate that explanation. Looking forward again to more enhancement in that arena. I'm sure that and we can enhance anything and everything. But that was the one area that I noticed where we needed more, a little bit more. through the chair. There is, synergy took place this summer, I went, and I'm glad to see that this year you did it only for the principals, not the assistant principals together. I think it was more beneficial for the principals to be able to have the opportunity to address areas of interest that they have to deal with, and then maybe a separate thi

Thank you and through the chair do you like the subject matter that you present do you have like prior to synergy taking place do you ask them to submit the subject matter that they want to be addressing or is this something that is just developed through academics because I think that input in that area would be very beneficial for the principals to put the main areas that are of concern to them through the chair.

Thank you. So lastly, through the chair, it was partially what the principals gave that they would like to hear, and the other part, new initiatives that you want to bring to the table. I do want to let my colleagues know, when I spoke, I spoke on behalf of all of my colleagues here and thanked everyone. on behalf of everyone sitting here and I know that board member Alonso also had his chief of staff over there on one particular date as well so thank you so much to everyone and lastly I've been hearing about on TV about I'm probably going to say it wrong but it's cyclosporiasis a foot-borne i

Okay, thank you so much, and thank you, Ms. Diaz and Ms. Torres and your team for testing students that are gifted, but I would also like to recommend that The assessment portion for students that are gifted is great, but we also have to have placement specialists to be able to place them before the school year starts. And that would be my last comment. Thank you. Thank you.

And thank you, Madam Chair. And just a quick question. How did the testing and the go for the referrals, especially since there was a lot of deployment? So I just want to make sure we're on track since a lot of the team was deployed in different areas. Did that impact our referral process? Because you know that that generates funds for our school when we have... these students, you know, for gifted programs. Who can answer that question through the chair? Through the chair.

Thank you, and through the Chair, just so that it's on record that it's imperative that we are timely with our placements, with our psychological tests. I know that our psychological evaluations, because the sooner the students get into the program and the services that they need, without a lot of time elapsing at the beginning of the school year, they're in the right place and they're getting what they need early on from the beginning of the year. So I just want to have that discussion. So thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Absolutely. All right, if there's no additional new business, we'll move to the staff follow-ups. We have from May 2026, H3, analysis of student screen time. Any questions?

Remember, Alonzo, I know that was your item. Sorry, can we get a split screen for the soccer game to play while we're here?

Is that why your eyes were bulging just a few seconds ago?

No. So I do have some questions. I don't know if Mr. Mateo would. would be willing to come up. I wanna first thank the superintendent and staff for taking this board item seriously. I mean, my goal was never, as everybody probably knows here, to eliminate technology from our classrooms, because technology is an important part of preparing our students for college, for the careers, for life, and it's just a part of life nowadays, right? But my goal was to better understand how much instructional time our students are receiving, whether it's age appropriate and whether we're using technology in

All right. Follow-up? Go ahead. How, I mean, because it's so important, right, and you mentioned the videos versus instructional time, how are we going to ensure that parents know where to find, like, these resources on screen time? I know the superintendent has been extremely supportive of our Parent Academy program, and getting that information out there, and how will we measure whether families are actually using them? How do we let families know this, and then how do we explain this information out to families about the importance of screen time through the chair?

It's something that gets me excited to talk about. Beyond measuring minutes, you talked a lot about minutes there. How do we evaluate what the digital platforms are actually doing, and how are they actually improving student outcomes? I just came back from ISTE. The superintendent was there speaking, and everybody was talking about outcome-based contracting, outcome-based implementations. Anything that we're implementing has to have an outcome-based sort of review, right? What are we doing as a district outside of measuring minutes to measure outcomes of any of these platforms that were placed

Okay. Final question. And this is one that I'm sure everybody here has at the top of their head. It wasn't really structured into what we were talking about, but goes to AI. And I just came back, as I said, from ISTE. Every software company that are existing software products of ours, their label is AI. Everything's AI now. It's like the new buzzword, which is crazy because AI to me was already always there, but now it's become that. But as it becomes integrated into pretty much every instructional software we're using, I mean, the band-aid's been ripped off. How do we ensure that all these AI

And just to follow up, and I completely understand that point that you're making, Danny, or Mr. Mateo, but It's important, though, that we take a deep dive and look into those because what those companies are using in the back end could also expose our student data, could put our district in heavy vulnerabilities that then we are responsible and, you know, our CIOs are responsible and then cleaning up a company's mess. So we want to make sure that as these companies embedded in the back end, it might not be impacting our students in the front end, but it could impact our students in the long t

Of course, and I know, Mr. Superintendent, you wanted to make some more comments. I just had some very brief comments as I looked through it. I think, as you mentioned, very important to differentiate the active versus passive screen time. And when I looked, because I looked at the breakdown of the minutes that we have already built into instructions, all the tier three, et cetera, and it is under the recommended, but that's not the only time that they have. And I know you're talking about educating parents. I just think that's really the uphill battle, right? Because we can have as many sessi

All right, the other staff follow-up from May, preparation of implementation of Florida histories of communism standards. Board Member Espino.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just very briefly, two comments. First, I'd like just to request a separate briefing to understand who's running point on the development of materials and tracking and things like that. So we can talk about that here. And secondly, the weekly update where the standards are going to teach in the pacing guide, there's a link that lets you follow it. And when you click on it, unless you have Schoology, there's a wall that doesn't let you see exactly that. So that's just a technical thing. But otherwise, we'll have a sidebar about it. But thank you for the information.

Okay. Board Member Colucci, I believe I saw your hand up.

Yes, thank you. And this was about the prior, the screen time. But just to note that the artificial intelligence, there is something called cognitive surrender, where students or adults are not thinking, and they're relying on the AI to to do the thinking for them. So there's a very big issue with that as educators that we have to face. We have to make sure that our students are having the proper, that we're utilizing the AI properly and that we are allowing them as much time as possible within the classroom for cognitive development. so that we do not get to the point. I mean, sometimes I see

Of course, Ms. Diaz, you had a follow-up. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. And I'm a big fan of that program because it really motivates students to read and get them in the library and pick up those books. So thank you for that.

Okay, we received the ETO update from Dr. Tri-Diggs. Anyone have any questions or comments? All right, I think that for a three-item agenda, this is probably the longest committee meeting we've had. Can I get a motion to adjourn today's meeting? All in favor? Aye. We will be starting the personnel committee in just like two, three minutes. I see Dr. Baglos is here to change staff around. Thank you. All in favor? Aye. All right, our first D item on the floor, D-19, Chief Silva.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. It seems to me like this is a much better report than the other one we had, so congratulations for all the work you've done to the principals and members of the school sites and all of the sites that have been... looked at and reviewed again for the outcome that we have here because there's nothing more important than safety and security and the well-being not only of the students but of the entire workforce that we represent. I commend you on that, first and foremost. And my second area that I want to address is the ones that did not. Could you address, in ge

Thank you. Through the chair, that's all I have now.

Okay, thank you. I had similar questions, and this is an item that I have been very vocal about, and so while I've been critical at times, I did want to say very happy to see You were able to give me some numbers. I think 42 of the 50 schools were ones that were looked at again because they had not passed or met the standard for security, and we did this time. And, Madam Chair, I think you'll be happy to know the two that didn't. You'll get the information, but it puts us in a very good light. All right, any other questions? No. Okay, we'll move on to Dr. Baglos, your items, D20, D21.

All right, I do want to take a moment, and I know Mr. Steiger is not here, but that was a revision that we got, and I joked around with him. I couldn't get his call. I think it was on Friday, and I said, Mr. Steiger, I missed one call from you, and you leave us. But he has done an outstanding job, and we definitely wish him the best. And I want to congratulate Miss Maggie Betancourt as the interim. I've had an opportunity to meet her over the years. She always comes to two specific graduations in my district, and she is a lovely, lovely lady, and I'll look forward to working with her. Any othe

Yes, thank you very much. Madam Chair, I did have some, but I understand that we'll have a revision that will be submitted to us, so I'm going to reserve my comments at this time. I did have some, but I'll wait to get the revised document through the Chair. Mr. Superintendent, if you want to say anything in reference to that.

Any other questions or comments on D21? All right, can I get a motion to move? Actually, let's do all of the D. D55? Well, we don't typically talk about that. I'm so sorry. All right. I know D69. I believe Dr. Lewis is not here. This Dr. Lewis Diaz will take over.

Any questions? Yes, Madam Chair. Well, first, I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who participated in the initial portion of this process, which was held right here, and I chaired, and extremely well deserved. This is someone who truly has been absolutely fabulous throughout all the years in service to our country, to our communities, and especially in this particular community. I also want to TO THANK THOSE MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY THAT ATTENDED THE INITIAL MEETING AND STATED THE REASONS WHY THEY WANTED TO HAVE THIS DONE. AND THEN, OF COURSE, TO BOARD MEMBER ESPINO, THIS IS IN HIS DIS

Board Member Espino, I know this is not only your district, but you proffered an item.

Yes, thank you so much. Thank you for the preface, Madam Chair. It was a privilege to, along with residents of my district initiate this process for an honor that I think is very fitting, probably not as much as he deserves, but what we can do as a school district to recognize the life, the service of Lincoln Diaz-Balart. It's interesting because he was a friend, I know his family, and they're all individuals of character, integrity, and service. You've got the very large ticket items that Lincoln Diaz-Balart does in Congress that affects entire communities represented in Miami-Dade and throug

Thank you so much, Chair, and thank you, Board Member Espino, for this recognition, to the community for recognizing Lincoln. I still kind of get goosebumps as a kid sitting at my grandparents' house in Hialeah and Lincoln giving speeches and always representing the community that he loved so much, right? And it was, Hialeah was the center of his work, so there's nothing more telling or important than to name this school after him because I can tell you, He helped so many families throughout that community that had always come through my grandmother's house or through other grandparents' house

Okay, yes. Dr. Dorothy Vandross-Mendigo.

Thank you very much. I was contemplating not saying anything, but it wouldn't be right if I didn't. And my seatmate just brought it up when he said those who are looking down from heaven. He was the best friend to one of my favorite Congresswomen, Carrie P. Meek. Best friend. When I say that, if it were a party at her house, which she loved to party, he was there.

And we were, Mr. Spino, look at that smile.

He was there, and with Carrie being as near and dear to me, I got to go. But I thought he was very, very special. Mario and I served together in Tallahassee. So I got to say this. It goes into the people that someone said he's a patriot. He was a patriot. He was more than that. He was just a wonderful human being. And you have to know when you mention Hialeah, I served in Hialeah. I served at a school that I didn't even know was there along with James Bright Elementary School. J.W. Johnson. I know you're looking like, well, who is that and what was that? James Weldon Johnson who wrote Lift eve

All right, I believe we go now to D70. Mr. Diaz.

Comments or questions? Yes, Dr. Dorothy Bendros-Mendigo.

Thank you, Madam Chair, because we had a real big conversation last year on some things referencing What can and cannot be done for children and all. What, tell me exactly, explain to me what this is.

Thank you so much. Madam Chair, may I follow up? Of course. Thank you. Do we have everyone who is responsible for athletics, for sports, and the like, do they know what you're telling me?

I know. Absolutely. Continue. I know this is not what they say my job description is, but I want to know everything. I'm just so disappointed in some things, and I won't talk about them right now. But this is a part of our business, athletics. And you know, in some communities, that's it. You know, I don't know about my colleagues, but they have a seat for me, Mr. Bueno, at the football games, because they know I'll be there. But I do not like to be asked questions about certain things that happen in certain schools, and I don't know the answer. Madam Chair, I want to just speak just a little

One more. Absolutely. The floor is yours. I need an invitation. Oh, he's here? I have lots of questions. No, I don't. Please. He would probably want me to stop now because he'll get a phone call. What's going on and why is it going on? What is the title of the individual? I think it's female now. What is the title going, you know, as you go up in this thing called being responsible?

Last, Madam Chair, please. I have to sit down with you and Mr. Cohn and some specific principals and athletic directors at some of the schools that I'm elected to serve. It's important. It's important. We're not gonna have this school year the way we had last school year, because someone asked me, how do you know so much about athletics? Well, I had five brothers. So it didn't matter whether I could go long and catch a football. It was just what we had to do. And I think you know all that I'm talking about. And Mr. Cohn, I know he knows. He answers my calls, though, because it's important I pr

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And just a friendly amendment for consideration on the recommend. IT STATES THAT THE SCHOOL BOARD OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, APPROVE EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITY FEES FOR PRIVATE SCHOOL AND PERSONALIZED EDUCATION PLAN STUDENTS FOR THE 26-27 SCHOOL YEAR. I WOULD PROBABLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU INCLUDE THERE $400, THAT IT WOULD SAY FEES FOR $400 FOR THE PRIVATE AND THE REST THAT'S ON THERE. I THINK IT WOULD, BECAUSE WHAT COUNTS IS REALLY THE RECOMMEND ALWAYS. So that's just for your consideration?

Thank you. I had a question that I didn't think of during our briefing yesterday. This $400, would that allow them to play any and all sports they want, or is that $400 per sport?

Whether they play one or multiple sports at that school. if they played at different schools, different sports, would each school be able to do the 400?

I mean, at the high school level, most are committing to one sport, but some might be playing two sports. I don't know what the Senate bill allows for as well. I know 400 is a maximum. I don't know if it's maximum per sport, per school.

I don't know if it happens, but I know usually they're looking for the school that excels in a certain particular sport. Okay. D71 continues, Mr. Diaz.

Questions or comments from my colleagues?

Yes, Chair Rojas. Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. One other question is, what's the difference between the prices from the 25-26 year and what is being proposed in 26-27? Through the chair.

Right. So through the chair, how many schools fall into this category this year?

Thank you. So through the chair, those that are doing the free and reduced lunch, applications will be monitoring, of course, their numbers and making sure that they are reaching the threshold that is necessary to maintain the Title I status. Question being with those that are not, that are going through the CEP. I believe that the monitoring is not done in the same manner and therefore adversely affecting some schools, which is a conversation that you and I had previously in reference to concerns on this one. How are we monitoring in these if The numbers are not where they should be before it

I'm referring the Title I funding issue to maintain the Title I funding, and maybe there's some confusion, and if there is, I'd like clarification. I know I saw the superintendent raising his hand. The Title I funding where you have free and reduced lunches is how we've done it for years, right? And then all of a sudden we reached a different level when we had the threshold, I believe it's over 63%, to be able to be CEP. Is that threshold correct, around there?

Okay, there we go. And so that was the question and the concern. If you have it in this manner, the CEP, and maybe you can elaborate. I know the superintendent, I guess, wants to, so let me just, let me wait until he does so if Madam Chair allows the superintendent to respond. Yes, thank you, Mr. Superintendent.

You're absolutely on point, Mr. Superintendent, through the chair.

Okay. Through the chair, thank you. I'll have a further conversation with you about specifics that I want to address on this issue. But that's fine for now. Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Dr. Dorothy Vandross-Mindigo and then Board Member Alonzo.

Thank you, Madam Chair. As we're listening to our leaders in this space, I have a question. What happens, how do we provide for children who pay little and they don't have it? They come to school and they're supposed to pay, let's say, $1.50 and they don't have it.

Madam Chair. Absolutely. Continue. Thank you. We have all of these partners who provide for so much in our schools. Is there some way through the chair that we can partner with some of these people who are the haves and many of the children who are have-nots? They don't have to know. When you say to me, through the chair, that the meal is a little bit different. What can we do? I know we have policies and statutes and rules and regulations. What can we do to provide for the children and their meal does not look different through the chair?

Thank you, Mr. Superintendent. One more, Madam Chair.

Thank you. I say that because, you know, we talk about what we have been and how great we were. No one walked the community the way I did. No one. At one time, the Seventh Avenue corridor was probably one with the most money. Now it's US 1. I would go up there because they had a lot of automotive selling of the cars, and I would ask them, for each car that they sold, what can they do for Lily C. Evans Elementary School and our children? And I suggest, I heard Madam Chair, I was trying to get back here. I heard you talking about what happens with the meetings, with the synergy and all of that w

Of course, Board Member Alonso wanted to say something first.

Thank you so much, Madam Chair. And thank you for the clarification, Mr. Diaz, on that no student's going to go unfed in any one of our schools. And I wanted to have that reassurance as well, that irregardless of the status of their application or whatever it may be, every child should always have access to a meal. Though on the flip side, I have walked as well as many of us and we've talked about food waste and our cafeterias have been wasting a lot of food and not at their fault, just children that already had their own lunch or weren't interested that were getting the free and reduced and e

Madam Chair. Yes, thank you so much. Board Member Bendros-Mendingal for the points you brought up. And you recall when you and I were principals many years ago, we would have to work very closely with our PTA, PTSAs that we still can use them to either provide some funding so that The kids can have the lunch without it being different than everybody else's. But way in the old days, even before principalship when I was a teacher, if a child didn't have it, in those days there were no peanut allergies. So they would have peanut butter and jelly, a fruit, and milk. That's how it was. That's how i

Thank you. Board Member Geller, I know you wanted to say something.

So I wanted just to make some additional comments I know in my briefing I asked how many schools do qualify and I think Dr. Diaz you said 121 schools so that's almost a third right or a little bit over a third of our schools will definitely qualify for the free and read right for the free lunch. Just in listening, and that's something that I had talked about with Dr. Diaz, ensuring that we kind of get that message out there, right? Because parents haven't had to do this. Is the form only paper? Can we maybe also do digital? Or is there an either or option? Just so we can do the one that's most

I'm happy to hear digital, but I kept hearing a form, a form, and so I just wanted to kind of make sure. It seems to me, too, something to possibly target is those schools that are just below that 62.5 threshold, right? If we maybe target those schools to really make a chance and because once we get the whole school to be free and reduced, that works. I understand the cost of inflation. I'm definitely happy that we're giving healthier options. I just want to make sure that we are very ahead of the curve in informing parents, because before we went to district-wide free and reduced lunch, you m

Does each? I mean, this is final reading, so we've already had some presentation. Are we good? We just want to maybe ask some questions?

No, I just want to make a comment through the chair. Thank you. I just want to thank our general counsel and his team. Very thorough, very comprehensive, and particularly with the one for the state of Florida, Auditor General. This is so critically important. We have regular ongoing meetings with them, and it's imperative that not only we say we're going to do something, but that we actually do it. And so it's come to fruition. It's here. It's documented. And actually, I think within the next week, I have to meet with them again. We have everything documented that their recommendation was inde

Any questions on G2 or G3? No. All right. Thank you, Mr. Harvey. Can I get a motion to move the G items to the board meeting? A second? All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Motion to move the H items to the floor? Second? Second. All in favor? Aye. Thank you. H item, Chair Rojas, this is your item, H3. H3.

Yes, thank you so much, Madam Chair. H3 is to encourage the superintendent of schools to utilize the district's communication resources to raise community awareness of Florida's back-to-school sales tax holiday, July 20th, 2026 through August 20th, 2026. This is an agenda item that I proffer on an annual basis to the board last year There were two different periods of time when this was being made available this year. It's only during the period of July 20th, 2026 through August 20th, 2026. We're living during difficult times. We've been talking all day today at different times. about the cost

Thank you. Okay, and this is an item you bring every year and always so important. So can I get a motion for co-sponsors? Second. All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Motion to move the item as amended.

Second. Maybe somebody seconded already. All in favor? Aye. Thank you. We'll now move on to new business. Any new business from any of the board members? No, okay, I think, did we have some staff follow-ups? Yes. I moved on, okay. Sorry, I lost my place. And I moved on to, this will give me one second. It's for item H5. All right, the staff follow-up, yes, thank you. On H5, comprehensive district staffing analysis, we received board follow-up. Any questions for Member Alonso?

Sorry, Board Chair, I might make your second committee be a little longer again. Again, I know. We'll try to get through it quickly.

I'm through the chairman. I conveniently lost my place just to see if we'd adjourn. I know. I'd just like to ask one question. Does anyone have the score?

Oh. There's no biases on this board. Go ahead, Board Member Alonso.

I'll zip it. First of all, as always, thank you to staff on the work that goes into all these efforts. I reviewed the report, and it kind of was on a perfect day, right? Because earlier this morning, we were talking about staffing and central office and what reductions have been done. And when I was reading the report, it refers... right-sizing and restructuring. Does that primarily mean, when we're talking about right-sizing and restructuring central office, the elimination of occupied positions versus just largely referring to freezing of vacancies and non-filled positions, not filling posit

I have a follow-up. I appreciate the phasing approach, but we sometimes don't have, and we definitely don't have time for phasing. Um, we are going through some very difficult times. Um, when we look at school budgets, we don't phase out their allocations for the year. We were just talking about that earlier. It's you're not getting teachers. You're not going to get these additional two teachers. We're eliminating an assistant principal and it's happening immediately based on enrollment. So when I look at the report, it's kind of deceiving in many ways. And honestly, Many districts are doing t

If it's okay, I think Dr. Baglos, you had a specific response to his question. Maybe she can answer you, and then you can go on to the next question.

I just wanted to follow up on the superintendent's point on the deceiving comment, and we might have different opinions. When I look at cuts, I look at cuts differently. These were vacant positions, much of them. Maybe we can go over the numbers, and I'm happy to sit down with you outside of this. But when I'm making cuts at home or in my personal business, it's to the point of, we're not going to go on a vacation because we can't afford it. It's not, oh, we usually go on vacation to Europe, and this year we're not going to go, so now we just saved $6,000 on a vacation to Europe. It's, no, we'

All right, the next staff follow-up was from the June 2026 agenda, item H4, the 21st Century Social Media Account Policy. I believe that was Board Member Santos' item. Board members, do you have any questions or comments? Looks like there's no questions, is that okay? All right. All right, then the next staff follow-up on item H10, 21st century planning, strengthening attendance boundary school choice. I believe this is the item that went somewhat hand-in-hand with the G3. Board members, any questions on the follow-up? Okay. If there's no additional new business and nothing else to be discusse